Elevator.



' J. M. WHALBE.

EL EVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR.3.19|5.

Patented July 10, 1917. 2 SHEETSSHEET I.

JACOB M. WHALBE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELEVATOR.

Application filed April 3, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB M. WHALBE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan county, and State of New York, have 1nvented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to elevators, and is directed particularly to means for locking the control for elevators, operating in conjunction with the door opening means, whereby an elevator cannot be started in movement away from its place of rest at the floor of a building until the door has first been completely closed. This is for the purpose of mechanically compelling the operator topositively close the door before starting the car, an act which in practice is frequently neglected, sometimes with disastrous consequences to persons using the elevator.

My im rovement in brief comprises a control locking and unlocking device which becomes effective through the act of opening the elevator door which communicates with the building floor, and which holds said control inactive until the door has again been completely closed. The instrumentalities employed in accomplishing this purpose comprise an oscillating sheave having a cable connection with the control mechanism, and a slideway upon said sheave to receive a sliding lock, which enters the slideway only when the door is opened, and which, when so entered, prevents the sheave from. oscillating, thereby holding the control inactive. Thesliding lock itself is antomatically actuated through means operating the opening movement of the elevator door, which means however are only capableof, performing their function when the control lever'has been fully swung over to bring the car to a standstill, because the sheave,,until that act has been performed, does,..notpresent its slideway intoiproper ,alinement with the lockin sl1de for the reception. of the latter. en the car has been brought to rest, and the door opened comes necessary to enable the operator to again start the car either upward or downward, to first release the slidmg look from its engagement with the control sheave, which .means that the door must first be closed, to

thereby permit the automatic mechanism bethedoor and the sliding lock to be Specification of Letters Patent.

in the city,

it then ,be-

Patented July 10, 1917.

Serial No. 18,881.

put in motion, to cause the withdrawal of sad slidin lock from such engagement.

The mec anical means whereby the said functions are served, also some modifications thereof, also other features of my invention are hereinafter described and illustrated in the drawings forming a part hereof.

In the drawings:--

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of an elevator shaft, with sliding doors for the several floors of a building; and with the lock and lock actuating mechanism in one form thereof.

Fig. 2 isa view of a modified form of lock mechanism employin hydraulic power.

Fig. 3 is a view 0% another modification which is electrically operated, and

Fig. 4 is a detail of a modified form of sliding lock actuator.

Reference being had first to the form of my invention shown in Fig. 1, the numeral 1 indicates an elevator shaft provided with the slidin doors 2, which each may have the usual latc ing devices 3 of different characters, these being too well known to need description.

Suitably arranged and disposed with relation to the shaft 1 is a sheave l, pivoted at 5 in a fixed position, and adapted to be connected, by opposite ends of a cable 6, with a control lever or mechanism actuated thereby (not shown), whereby the sheave will be rocked or oscillated oppositely according to the direction of, movement of the lever in starting and stopping the car. The sheave 4 carries on one face thereof a s'lideway which may be composed of the. parallel guide bars 7, extending, spaced: apart, across the diameter of said sheave, said slideway being adapted, when the sheave is, turned .to bring said slideway as to a horizontal position, to receive a lockQS which is slidable in parallel, fixed guides 9, said lock moving to'its opertive position in which part thereof remains within the guides 9, and part is entered between the guide bars 7, in which position the sheave will be held against movement and the control thereby locked. In the example shown the sheave is shown as turned with its guide bars 7 at an angle to the horizontal plane, vor out of alinement with the lock, thereby indicating that doors cannot be opened. The upper door 2 is Stem as; provided Wat alever a1 crumed at 11, and having a roller12 at one end which bears-against the rear edge er the door, so that, in the sliding movement of t he 5 door in opening, the other end 13 of'the le r is sw ngupwardly 1 0-t ot d Pos ritnindicated, 'carrying'with it an engaging device 14 which is fast uponanordor strand 15, whereby said cord or strand is shifted in the position which'it-occup'ies about the supporting and guiding pulleys 16,17 and 18. The cord or strand 15 is held taut as by a weight 19,- which also serves, by gravity, torestore it to normal position when the dooris closed,-a'nd a counter weight or balance is provided at the other end-of said cord or strand, 7

From the foregoing it will be observed that'while'the car is in motion, the control sheave 4 then presenting its guide bars 7 at an angle to thepath' of travel of the lock 8, it is not possible for the door to'beo'pened, because, in an attempt to slide the door open, the end of the lock will abut against the end of one of said guide bars, and abortive strain only will be imparted to. the cord or strand 15. But, when the control lever hasbeen thrown to bring the slideway-between' guide bars 7 exactly in alinement with lock 8," to receive said lock, which will occur "in the actof the'controllever serving to bring the car to "a stand still, the lock 8 will then freely "enter"'said 'jslideway 'asthe door is being opened. This operation will also lock the sheave against oscillation, and hence will lock the control lever against actuation, so that the fear cannot be started into movement again while the doorremain's open. Obviously however the action of closing the door releases the cordor strand 15 from engagement by lever end 14, whereupon the weight j 19 withdrawelock's from its e11 gagement'with 'th'etslidewa-y in the s'heave 4', the1;et yreleasing sajd' sheave and per- Ihit r gf' th fontr'fl lever tobe operated to weep rs m t in a' niodification pf thel s'heave and conn-s,"where hydraulic po'wer 'cillatingfsh'eave 27, (Fig ithjarinsf'QS, 29, pivoted at: opposite sides of the sheave shaft fegfrtefldiirg' downwardly, and 2,-. p iyeyner th i hem ale ether-"end he buildingf communicating, as by pipe 43, with a source of pressure supply, not shown, and having a weighted: actuating lever 44, with which is connected a cord or strand 45, that corresponds with the cord or strand 15. In lthe operation of this device, the act-of drawing upwardly upon the cord or strand 45, as in the act of opening the door, serves toactuate the valve to admit pressure-to the cylinder 39, thereby forcing the piston 40 upwardly, thereby locking the sheave in the position to which it has been turned by the operation of the control device.

In the further modification of Fig. 3, where the lock is shown to be electrically operated, a solenoid magnet '46 may have its circuit closed as by the act of opening the door, whereby, through lever 47 the sheave 48 may be locked to preventactuation of the lever control in starting the car,'and said circuit may. be opened in the-act 'of closing the door, W'hereby the spring 49 may operate to lock said sheave oppositely when turned in the act ofstarting the .car'in motion.

In-Fig. 4 further means are shown whereby the sliding door, in opening, actuates thecordo'r 'strand' 'WhiCh-GGHtIOlS the' lock means of Fig. 1. Saidmeans comprises an upwardly inclined member 50 *atthe upper end of the door, in osition'to meet-anddepress one end of a ever5'1, 'pivotedat' 52, and engaging with a projection 53 on a cord or strand 54, whereby said cord or -strand is operated in the manner previously set forth, for the same purpose.

j 'Means ofp'ositivelyloekingelevator "for release either'- automatieany or manually may also be provided, as follow'syin connect'ion with the lever device 10 shown in Fig. "These means rcomprise -a rac1jfi55 held "in .a fixed position in theslraft relat 'lytio the door'with "which used, fer engagement by n16 arm is er said 1e'ver,fbut said-rack beingfinovable' i'earwa'rdly againstthe pressure of a spring 56whi'c'h holds itinit'snorfi ial operative position. As the door closes jthe arm 13.rnoyesdownwardly over the teeth 6f said rack, and engages theifwit h*tenere h ssipe m h s 3 lines, where'it is in the path of the shoulder 57 The means employed for actuating said cam '58 may be of suitable character. I 'have shown a lever 59, connected to' the stem of said cam 58, and mounted within the car, to be under the control of the opera- Variations may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of my invention, and parts thereof used'without others.

, I claim 1. A safety device for elevator doors comprising a sheave, means between said sheave andthe car control to oscillate said sheave oppositely in the respective stoppin and starting operations of said control, a iding lock, means upon said sheave receptive of said look when the control has been operated to stop the car, means upon said sheave to prevent engagement of said lock therewith when the control has been operated to start the car, an actuator for said lock, means between said door and actuator, operating under the influence of the door movement in Copies 011ml patent may be obtained to:

five cents each, by addressing Washington, 1!). 0."

opening, whereby said lock isdrawn engagement, with said sheave, and gravity means to disengage said look upon closing the door.

' 2. A safety device for elevator doors, a car control, an oscillating member, means v 30 connecting said control and membei' for movement in unison, a slidin .lock to engage said member to lock it an the control,

a weighted connector to disengage said slidn ing lock, a sliding door, and a pivotal lever engaging both said connector and doo1 whereby, in the opening movement of said door, said connector is caused to directly draw said lock, into engagement with said member, to thereby lock said control.

Signed at the boron h of Manhattan, in

the city, county and tate of New York,

this 31st day of March, A. D. 1915. I

JACOB M. WHALBE.

Witnesses:

F. W; BARKER, EDWARD DURANT,

the Commissioner of retentl, 

